MARTIN, TN --The Tennessee State Tiger volleyball team rallied from a 2-0 hole to earn a come-from-behind 3-2 victory (15-25, 27-29, 25-23, 25-18, 15-12) against the Lindenwood (MO) Lions Friday at Skyhawk Field House. The win is the sixth in a row for Tigers who have now won 10 or their last 11 game.  improving Tennessee State's overall record to 18-15 on the season and gives TSU an opportunity to play in the OVC Championship match against either SEMO who upset the top seeded UT-Martin. 

The Tiger offense was paced once again by Johanna Alcantara, who finished with 22 kills on the day while accumulating a hitting percentage of .320. Kennedy Davis added 12 and Celestial Miller chipped in with 12 as part of a balanced Tennessee State attack. Defensively, TSU had three players reach double figures in digs, including Gina Rivera-Ortiz's 29, 15 from Sofia Garcia-Guerrios, who also had 31 assists for a double-double. She also contributed six kills which is her season high.  Hadley Pride had 11 more digs. From the front row, Aleksandra Rojecka contributed six blocks.

Game Notes

» Tennessee State dropped the first two sets of the match before rallying to win the final three.
» Tennessee State had three players in double figures in kills.
» Tennessee State had three players in double figures in digs.
» Carla Boudal had a match-high four aces in the win.
» Tennessee State never trailed on the way to winning the fourth set 15-12.
» Tennessee State served up three aces on the way to a fifth-set victory.
» Johanna Alcantara had a match-high 22 kills for Tennessee State.
» Tennessee State got a match-high 29 digs from Gina Rivera-Ortiz.
» Tennessee State attackers were helped by a team-high 31 assists from Sofia Garcia-Guerrios.

How It Happened

SET 1 | The Tigers found themselves in an early hole, losing a tough first set 25-15. Tennessee State trailed by as many as 10 points as Lindenwood (MO) grabbed the advantage for good at 4-3 in a set that was notted up two times before the Lions took control.

SET 2 | Tennessee State fell in set two 29-27, digging a 2-0 hole in the match. The Tigers dropped set two despite a solid showing on the attacking end. Tennessee State registered a .333 attack percentage with 17 kills in the set loss.

SET 3 | After dropping the opening two sets, the Tigers started slow going down 0-3 in the third set. It looked gloom but TSU fought back to take set three and make it a 2-1 match. The Tigers trailed by as many as six points, but wouldn't give up and took the lead for good at 24-23 in a set that had just one lead change before Tennessee State took over in the second half of the stanza. They then carried that lead to a 25-23 set win. The Tigers racked up 17 kills over the course of the set. will Alcantara getting six of them. 

SET 4 | Tennessee State then kept the comeback train rolling, winning the fourth set 25-18 to bring the match level to two sets apiece. The Tigers took control of the set at 2-1 and never looked back. They built their early lead t0 5-1 on an Alcantara kill. A Rojecka kill from Login Williams gave TSU a 9-4 lead forcing a Lindenwood timeout. After the timeout, the two connected again and then Williams set up Kennedy Davis to make it 11-5. A 5-1 run pushed the TSU lead to 10 points at 24-14 before closing out the stanza. Celestial Miller was huge late in the set getting two kills during the run and then the final kill onf the set.Tennessee State got a solid defensive performance from a front row that blocked five Lindenwood (MO) attacks in the stanza.

SET 5 | Tennessee State lost the first two sets, but put together a furious comeback to win the last three sets, culminating in a 15-12 fifth-set victory, and take the match 3-2. The Tigers took a 1-0 lead and never looked back in set five to secure the victory. TSU took a 5-2 lead early on the strength of two Alcantara kills, then  opened up as much as a four-point lead at 14-10 before finishing off the set, totaling nine kills while only notching one attack error in the set. Tennessee State also supplemented its offense with three aces in the final set, two by OVC ace leader Carla Boudal. 

"The heart the girls displayed on the court was the reason we were able to fight our way back in the match," said TSU head coach Donika Sutton. "We have been working all season long for the moment. Tonight it came together and we finished it out as a unit. Tonight we celebrate this achievement, and look forward to getting back to work tomorrow in the championship match." 

The Tigers will now play in the OVC Championship game a SEMO tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. for a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament.